State Senator Kim LaSata’s legislation to formally establish a border between Michigan and Indiana has been approved by the state Senate. LaSata says her bills would establish a commission, to work with a counterpart in Indiana, to draw formal borders. She tells us the border between the two states has not been revisited since the early 1800s. She adds most of the wooden markers have not survived the years. The survey would not seek to make major boundary movements, but it could help to resolve some problems caused by confusion. For example, things like traffic crashes and crimes that have occurred in areas where the jurisdiction is unclear. LaSata says her bills would continue the efforts of the late state Senator Ron Jelinek, who also represented Southwest Michigan and introduced the original bills to resurvey and establish a clear border, although the state of Indiana did not join those efforts at the time, leaving them unfinished.
